Wethersfield was found for the third straight year to exceed the benchmark levels on traffic stops of minority drivers, but Central Connecticut State University researchers were careful to avoid saying that Wethersfield was “engaged in discriminatory policing.’’

Wethersfield was found for the third straight year to exceed the benchmark levels on traffic stops of minority drivers, but Central Connecticut State University researchers were careful to avoid saying that Wethersfield was “engaged in discriminatory policing.’’

Wethersfield police say a report by Central Connecticut State University researchers that examines traffic stops of minority drivers in town is based on flawed data.

The Hartford suburb was found for the third straight year to exceed the benchmark levels on traffic stops of minority drivers, but researchers were careful to avoid saying that Wethersfield was “engaged in discriminatory policing.’’

The police said Thursday that although 9 percent of the population in Wethersfield is Hispanic, 31 percent of the traffic stops are of Hispanic drivers.

The report by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project is required under state law to study the issue of racial profiling. As a result, more than 1.75 million traffic stops have been analyzed statewide over the past three years, including from local departments and the state police. During that time period, 71 percent of those stopped statewide have been white, 14.1 percent black, and 12.5 percent Hispanic.

Wethersfield police chief James Cetran, who attended a state Capitol meeting where the report was released, says the study is flawed because it fails to factor in a huge influx of Hispanic residents from the South End of Hartford who shop in town and visit the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Labor. He said the report “looks terrible” when the numbers are analyzed, but that, overall, 50 percent of the drivers on Wethersfield’s streets are minorities.

“Their reports are based on flawed data,’’ Cetran said. “It’s going to skew the numbers, and that’s why we haven’t looked good for the past three years.’’

Cetran added, “There are a lot of minorities in the South End of Hartford that have to drive into Wethersfield. There’s no supermarkets in the South End of Hartford, so they have to do their grocery shopping in Wethersfield or maybe Newington. But those people are driving on our streets and are not accounted for in regards to the report.’’

But Ken Barone, a policy specialist at Central Connecticut State University who co-authored the study, said the presence of the motor vehicles headquarters has “very little impact’’ on the traffic stops in Wethersfield. He said, though, that final conclusions had not been reached.

“We are not making a claim that the Wethersfield Police Department is engaged in discriminatory policing,’’ he said. “We don’t want to leave people with the impression that a disparity equals profiling. A disparity in data could just mean that there is some idiosyncratic trend occurring that is causing that disparity.’’

Wethersfield was listed along with East Hartford, Stratford, Darien and Trumbull as showing “a significant racial or ethnic disparity using the descriptive measures’’ in the report.

Barone said the study looks at six different methodologies, and Wethersfield shows up on all six.

“They’re the only department that this happens to,’’ Barone said. “So the question you have to ask yourself is: ‘Is Wethersfield that unique?’ ’’

The researchers have studied the driving patterns in Wethersfield as part of the study.

“Does Wethersfield get more diverse during the day? Probably,’’ Barone said. “It probably doesn’t get as diverse as they’d like you to think because they’re also being flooded by thousands of cars from predominantly white communities into Wethersfield as well.’’

The Connecticut Police Chiefs Association issued their own analysis of the first two years of the report, saying the methodologies are flawed and there is no proof of racial profiling.

“We have also seen increased tensions with our communities as a result of what may be inaccurate analysis,’’ said Watertown Chief John Gavallas, the association’s president. He added, “Again, our organization continues to adhere to and support this study, but we can no longer accept the information provided at face value.’’